Improvement in hats



UNITED TATE S IMPROVEMENT IN HATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,328, dated September 25, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. WHITE, of Kent Island, Queen Anne county, Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hats and Caps; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention consists in forming and holdingiu shape a hat or cap of any textile or other soft and limber material by the combination, with theloose wrapper of such a hat, provided with an open draw or other casing at the outer edge of its brim, of a single hoop I or spring, which will keep the brim stretched to a proper degree of stiffness without the aid of any other appliances whatsoever, the said hoop being so arranged as to be easily adjusted to or detached or removed from said casing.

In a patent heretofore granted me, dated April 17 1866, and numbered 54,049, I have described a method of shaping and forming a hat or cap by means of a light frame, over which the hat-wrapper is stretched and drawn by means of draw casings and strings. I have since discovered, however, that the object I then had in view can be accomplished with greater ease and less expense either by the employment of a single self adjustinghoop or spring, which, when sprung with an open casing formed at the outer edge of the brim, as hereina er explained, will, by expanding within the casing, give shape and stiffness to the brim, and will hold the hat in proper form,

or by the employment of a non-expanding hoop in an open draw-casing, the brim being shaped in this case by contracting and drawin g in the casing by means of the draw-strin gs with which it is provided.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented different ways in which my invention may be carried into-effect. The hat therein shown is made of linen or any other suitable textile fabric which can be washed. It consists of a crown, a, the sides or body I), and brim c. The latter is the part to which the distending hoop or spring is applied.

To form a casing in which the spring can be held, the outer edge of the brim may be drawn. or held in, as shown at d, Figure 1, so as to be' used either with or without draw-strings; or it;-

may be folded over and then gored, so as to form a perfectly smooth casing, c, Fig'. 2 5 or an additional piece of fabric of an annular or other suitable form may be sewed to the brim, as shown atf, Fig.

hen this arrangement is employed, a slit maybe made in' the piece on the upper side of the brim, so as to allow the spring to be placed within the casing, and this slit may be closed by a button or hook and eye, or by drawstrings, as preferred.

The casing or part in which the hoop or spring is held may be formed so as to be on the upper or underside of the brim, though I have found it better to have it on the upper side.

It is evident that the open casing for holding the spring is susceptible of many variations in form, and that it can be made so as to be used either with or without draw-strings.

While describing, therefore, those forms in which I have found it best to make the casing, I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the drawings.

The distending hoop or spring, of which different forms are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, may be made of steel, brass, vulcanite, or any other suitable material.

The hoop is of an elliptical form, and is bent on a former, so as to take any shape which may be required. It can be heated and then bent, or it can be bent cold and tempered. In either case it will retain its form perfectly.

When a draw-casing and strings are employed, as in Fig. 3, a hoop or form as shown at n, Fig. 6, may be used. When a plain casing is employed a hoop like that shown at m, Fig. 5, should be used. This hoop is' formed by bending the wire or strip of metal or other material until the two ends are brought together. They are then held in this position by means of sliding clamps or loops g, so arranged as to permit the spring to expand, as shown in Fig. 5. After the spring is placed within the casing d or 0, Figs. 1 and 2, it expandsthe sliding or running clamps permitting the ends to move in opposite directions-amtil it stretches and shapes the brim within which it is secured, and gives form to the whole hat.

If it be desired, the ends of the spring which are secured within the clamp may be serrated FFIGE,

or have teeth formed upon them, to prevent the spring from stretching the fabric more than is necessary.

It will, of course, be understood that the selfadjusting hoop or spring thus described is first shaped on the former, as above set forth.

The wire or strip of which the spring is composed may be variously formed. It can be a plain wire, or a flat strip, arranged so that its fiat side may be either horizontal or perpendicular; or it may be formed of two strips at right angles to each other, h, Fig. 7, or so as to have a T shape, as seen at k, Fig. 7. The plain wire may also be pressed or mashed, so as to have flanges formed longitudinally upon it. The various forms are shown in crosssection in Fig. 7.

The angular form of the strip in some cases perhaps enables the hoop or spring to better retain its shape and resist pressure in all directions; but for ordinary use I find the plain flat strip or wire form suflicient.

In applying the spring to a hat provided with a plain open casin g, the ends of the spring are pushed in the clamps or loops, so as to complete the hoop. When this has been sufficiently done the hoop is sprung in to the open casing on the brim, which hangs loosely and without form from the sides or body of the hat. As soon as the hand is removed from the hoop the latter expands in the easin g until it stretches the brim out to its utmost extent,

- the brim assuming at the same time the shape in which the hoop has been formed.

If a hat with a draw-easing be used, the hoop orform may be eithera distendingspring,

When the plain non-expanding hoop shown in Fig. 6 is employed with a draw-casing, f, Fig. 3, the effect is the same as if an expanding-spring hoop were used, the brim being stretched in the one instance by tightening the draw-strings, in the other by the expansion of the spring.

If the wrapper of the hat or cap becomes soiled it can be washed with great ease, the hoop or spring being first removed from the casin Having thus described my invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. In combination with an open draw-casing or other open casing placed at the outer edge of the brim of a hat, as described, the hoop or form of metal or other suitable material for forming and holding in shape said brim, constructed and arranged for operation substantially as herein shown and set forth;

2. As a new article of manufacture, the hat or cap constructed as herein described and set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed myname to this specification before two subscribing witnesses.

WM. H. WHITE.

IVitnesses EDM. F. BROWN, M. BAILEY. 

